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About Google Book Search Google's mission is to organize the world's information and to make it universally accessible and useful. Google Book Search helps readers discover the world's books while helping authors and publishers reach new audiences. You can search through the full text of this book on the web at |http: //books .google .com/I A CRITICAL INQUIRY INTO THE CONDITION OF THE CONVENTDAl BDIIDERS AND THEIR RELATIONS TO SECULAR GUILDS IN THE MIDDLE AGES. BY GEORGE F. FORT, AUTHOR OF "the EARLY HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES OF FREEMASONRY," ETC. ** Nec Jovis ira, nee ignis. Nee poterit ferrum, nee edax abolere vetustas." J. W. BOUTON, 706 Broadway, New York. 1884. 9DEC 8^ PXF0R2. COPYRIGHTED 1884. A CRITICAL INQUIRY CONCERNING THE MEMAL CONVENTUAL MM^ THE mediaeval monasteries contributed the germ that bloomed through religious culture into guilds of stone-cutters towards the close of the Eleventh cen- tury. It is indeed true that there were bodies of builders, the precursors of the later operative masons, as early as the time of Charles Martel, in the Eighth century, whose corporate existence antedates this era more than a hundred years, when the Langobardic rulers admitted their legal rights by royal prescript. Previous to Rothair, a troop of artificers was or- dered into the distant province of the Avars, by the king of the Lombards,^ upon a warrant evidently imi- tated from the formal decrees used for such purposes in the time of Theodorick the Goth, whereby the most expert stone-cutters were transferred from one part of the Italian empire to another.'* With the dis- ^ Hoc quoque tempore misit Aigulfus rex Cacano regi Avarum arti- fices, Warnefrid, Gest. Langobard, Lib. iv., c. 21. ^Ut secundum brevem subter annexum de Urbe nobis marmorios peritissimos destinetis, qui eximie diviso conjugant, et venis colludent- ibus illigata naturalem faciem laudibiliter metiantur. — Cassiodor, Vari- arum, Lib. i., £p. 6. (9) 10 CRITICAL INQUIRY CONCERNING THE integration of the Lombard dominion and the ascend- ency of the Cariovingians conjointly with the papal hierarchy, all further notice of the early Middle-age builders as a lay society ceases. A new order of social life narrowed their independent condition under Civil Law into the control of that absolute authority, which needed the constructive art for building sacred ' edifices. Subsequent to the extinction of the Langobards, by the enlightened policy of the Carlovingians and the Romish Church the entire body of arts and sciences passed to the sole control of the latter power, of which i indeed the art of building religious houses was of i primary importance. Before the opening of the Eleventh century two distinctive forces divided the administrative powers of the times : the feudal and ecclesiastical. The former element of society was so thoroughly denuded of operatives competent to erect the towers and fortified dwellings necessitated by the age, that recourse was had to the cloisters, where alone J such skill was obtainable. These artisans, strange to relate, were never loaned ] or contracted out to the seculars unless the priories ' were indemnified against their skill being applied to constructing anything that might cause death!' This has a significance which implies absolute dominion of the Church over tlie mcdiEcval masons. Down to the time of Charlemagne, it may be stated as a general proposition that nearly ail operatives were 'Von Raumer, Geschichle det 1 lolienstauffen, Th. ' One, C.eachichlc der liaultunsi., p. 290. . p. 316. s MEDIiKVAL CONVENTUAL BUILDERS. II bondsmen. So thoroughly was this thought associ- ated with manual labor, that in the time of the Franks a tailor captured in the rising city of Paris only escaped torture by proving himself a freedman.* The Carpentarii, otherwise vehicle builders, are graded in ancient municipal law according to their estimated value to owners.* In fact, the social status of such craftsmen was merely that of serfdom ; and strange as it may appear, the whole body of operatives invariably Sittended their lords whithersoever they journeyed, in peace or in wan For such wanderings, enclosed but rude wagons served both the purposes of transpor- tation while abroad, and of domiciles when sojourning within the vast extent of national delimitations at home.* Oftentimes a blushing Gallic bride went to her husband's custody after the bethrothal with a shoe,' accompanied by a long perspective of ambulatory artificers, who composed a royal or princely dower.® Laymen in conveying real property to monasteries specifically set forth in the solemn acts of transfer bondmen and women, who ever thereafter became the goods of the religious houses, and devoted their craft to the support of their new owners. From the very *Quod talis esset artifex, Refuga es tu dominorum, nee libi licebit ultra diversa vagari* — Gregor. Turnon., De Miracults S, Martini, Lib. ii., c. 58. *Lex Salica, c. 31, and Baluz, Capitula, De Villis, c. 45. • Familias multas de domibus fiscalibus auferri praecipit et in plaustris componi. — Greg. Turn., Histor. Franc, Lib. vi., c. 45, Valesius Rer. Francor., Lib. xi., ap. loc. cit. ^Gregor. Tumon, Vitae Patrum, Cap. 16, g I. *Ibid, Hist. Franc, Lib. vi., c 45. 12 CRITICAL INQUIRY CONCERNING THE earliest ages, they were separated into groups or scholse of trades, and lived thus aggregated on the streets set apart for them in the towns and villages," This cus- tom remained in steadfast vigor down to the very close of the Fifteenth century, when guilds of masons had their domiciles together in Paris.'" For the most part, filiates of mechanical occupations controlled by the cloisters resided adjacent thereto, in the towns appur- tenant to their ecclesiastical proprietors. Here the conventual functionaries visited them and collected what was due." Without the assent of his master no serf could be accepted an inmate of a monastery. Fre- quently the free-born surrendered into church servi- tude, and with their issue became bondmen." In the time of Otho the Great, in this way the abbeys ob- tained many manicipia." Civil law, sanctioned by sacerdotal synods, laid an interdict upon the children of these serfs becoming inducted into orders." These citations attest that the conversi arose from a social grade more elevated than ordinary conventual work- men, because these last were almost uniformly in bond- ' in a plan of tlie city of Vienna, dating back la the close of the 1 Xlth century, cited by OllE, Geschichte der Baukunsl, Zweite, Abs, f 351 seq., such streets as the following occur: .Strata Auriraboruraj 5 Inter Arcatores; Seniita Sutoruni; Seinita Tunnariorum. etc. '"Legiand D'Aussy, Ilislorie de la vie Privte des Francais,, Tom. ] i; p. 35S. " ConBlitutiones Ilirsaug, Lib. ii., e. 46. "Heineecius, Anliq. German., Tom. ii., p. 407. "Ibid op. cit., p. 409. " Hcinrid Leges, cc. 3 and 4, and Heineccii. Ami*), Germ., Tom. ii., pp. 477,S'l- 4 MEDIiEVAL CONVENTUAL BUILDERS. 1 3 age, while the former, afterwards the best builders of mediaeval Europe, originated from the free-born. In order to provide against successful escape of fugitive mancipia, who were to be instantly returned to their proper domains,'* persons at liberty to travel were re- quired by the Decretals to carry with them a warrant of freedom — carta libertatis'* or letters of safe conduct, the possession of which was, in the times under con- sideration of the highest value." Whatever may have been the condition of the body of constructors under Christian rule, in the cities of Gaul or France, as late as the Fifth century, doubtless such municipalities as Triers, whose semi-paganized populace clamored for the rebuilding of the circine edifices destroyed by the Franks,'® must have pos- sessed enough of operative skill to transmit rules of this art to their successors, the priories. Through the rapid extension of the Gothic element in the provinces of France, Church authority quickly advanced to com- mensurate puissance. By the preservative forces of secular legislation emanating from Merowings and Carlo vingians, the monasteries of the Western Empire not only became sanctuaries into which all other arts fled for refuge, but were the first to absorb con- ^^ Si qua mancipia servitium declinantia, * * sine aliqua dubietate restitui. — Cassiodor, Variarum, Lib. iii., cap. 431. *• Gratianus, Decretum,P. iii., D. v.,c. 35. '^Edictum Rachis Regis, Capit., in Brevi. c. i. — Nullus homo sine signo aut epistola regis exire possit. — Lex Salica Emendata, cap. vi.; and Ziegelbauer, Hist. Lit. Rei Benedictor, Tom. i., p. 517, for such decree issued by Pope Paul IV. ^ Salviani, De Gubernat. Dei, Lib. vi. c. 15. 14 CRITICAL INQUIRY CONCERNING THE structive talent stranded throughout Southern Eu- rope." Otherwise whatever knowledge of practical utility these builders might be possessed of, without the fostering care and culture imparted to them by the only element of society that requiri^d tht-ir skill, must have subsided to the level of other mechanical trades, whose revival was delayed until more modern times. Moreover, medieeval architecture is confessedly alone of all the sciences, which at an early period attained its highest perfection ; and hence the induction that this honored e.-^celJence of handiwork, thus \ quickly seized by the Church, was developed within , the cloisters by men of high intellectual force and ' great zeal, as will it is hoped be clearly revealed in the ensuing pages of this treatise. The vast numbers of priories subordinate'" to a single illustrious monastery — in some cases, for example that of Clugny, reaching to thousands — compelled the maintenance of enormous bodies of builders. Added to this fact that unnumbered towns or municipalities grew out of these convents,"' who erected and in many instances owned the houses of their inhabitants," and at once the necessity of having great troops of opera- tives always at hand becomes further apparent. " The learned minister of Thetnlurick, in treaiiiig on ihe necessary ] instruction to convent lomales, called their attenlion Bpecifically to lh« uses of mathematics.— Cassiodor, De Artib. et Discjpl. Liber. Litter. Pnfatio et cap. 3. "De Noreaux Monaslires, e aprts (A. D. 1163), il y CiteaQL—Cursus Patrolog. Tom. clixiviU. p. 1278, " MoDialembert, Les Moines d'Occideoi, Tom. i., pp. &9-75. ^ Gesta Abbalum TrudoiiensiS] Lib. xiii. c. 3. e multipliSrent que cinquante aiH ] it cinq cents abbayes d^peodantes d^ j MEDIEVAL CONVENTUAL BUILDERS. 1 5 Prevfous to the Twelfth century, the question arises where these artificers were lodged. To this the answer can he made with reasonable accuracy, that at the period noted they lived and had sustentation in the monasteries, together with " lodges" or work- shops; and as late as the year 1488, the cathedral authorities of Durham contracted with one Johannes, a mason, for life abode and support, for which he was to have control of the repairs on that edifice.** In the Ninth century the celebrated abbey of Saint Gall planned a separate appartment in its new building for the general master of constructive operations.** Under him was placed each Decanus operis, who in turn had charge of ten craftsmen.** This latter functionary nearly corresponds to the mediaeval Palirer, or warden, as coming into immediate contact with craft govern- ment, as well as living within the convent. Through him the monastic superior ruled that class of opera- tives to whose workmanship was entrusted the actual labor of constructing edifices during the Middle Ages.*^ The Grand Master of the operatives as early as the Fifth century was an officer clearly recognized by royal rescript, entitled to precedence at Court when properly arrayed with his gilded staff of office." ^ Tres Histor. Dunhelemensis, Appendix, p. 373, Ed. Surtees. ** Springer, Geschichte der Baukunst, p. 58, and Otte, Geschichte der Baukunst, p. 103. ''Du Cange, Glossator. Med. et InBm. Latinitat, sub voce Decanus. *• Vide Ekkehard, jun., De Casibus S. Galli, c. 3 ; Conrad Faber, De Cas. Monast. S. Galli, c. 4 ; and Constitutiones Hirsaugen, Lib. i, c. 90, touching this office and its duties. *^Ut aurea virga decoratus, inter obsequia numerosa, ante pedes , regios primus videaris incedere. — Cassiod. Variar, Lib. vii., c. 5. i6 CRITICAL INQUIRY CONCERNING THE In his title of mastership is to be found nearly the | equivalent used in addressing that functionary in i modern times — Magisterium * * * Spectabilem."* The inquiry is now pertinent who these conventual artificers were, how recruited, thdr general govern- ment, etc. One of the stone- cutters' legends cited by Berlepsch" asserts that the Masons took their origin at Magdeburg under Charles the Second, in the year 876. In this king's name there is an identity with the British craft chronicles." But the French craftsmen traced their rise to Charie.s Martel, a hundred and fifty years earlier." So far as the Teutonic myth is con- cerned, it may possibly contain an element of truth ; because some recognition of their services may have I been rendered for constructing defensive works against the Norsemen, to whose destructive invasions this ter- ritory was particularly exposed. Moreover, at the epoch designated a change took place in the internal polity of the cloisters, which unequivocally provided the way for a transmission of building art through I conventual operatives to their confreres in the mediae- val guilds. In the year 851 the abbey of Corbey, one of the ] most iliustaious of medieval monasteries, opened the I portals of their great establishment for the reception, culture in art and morals, of a class of freebom lay- ^ Ihid. It was made a part of his duty ta slutly such writings aii would advance the preeminence of later art : ut ab opeie velerum sola dinu novitu fabricarum. — Ibid. "Chronik der Manrcr, Th. 8, pp. 132, 164. "Cooke MS, 23, 198, aaya Charles II, " Fort, The Early History and Antiquities of Freemasonry, p, aSl scq. MEDI.EVAL CONVENTUAL BUILDERS. IJ \ men's sons, equally denominated conversi, and at a [ somewhat later date, barbati fratres." These persons partially shared the clerical costume, and although receiving sustentation in the religious houses, were connected with them solely by a semi-ritualistic obli- gation. Sometimes they were known as lay brothers.^' Greater liberty of personal movement was accorded them in going to and from the convent," From the very date of their entrance into and becoming an inte- gral part of the monastic system, they appear to have been specially trained and cultured as a body of skilled constructors, Schola; or guilds" of such operatives properly classified lodged within the convents; and not unfrequently, when more recent styles of architecture or other cognate arts were required, particularly in Italy, for constructing and decorating, fam^d Byzantine and Alexandrian masters were called to the priory lodges or workshops, in order to conduct the artistic education of the youtJiful conversi.™ " BosLO coLiversus S, Vitio onmia tradidit, AnnaJes Aiidqui Corbeia: Saxonicie, sub aji.851. n Raumer, Gcschichte der Hohenstauffen, Th. vi,,p. joi, ines llir5a.ug., Lib. i., cap. 6S. Quos manere in prislino ■'babitu sacra constitutione permiait, TtitheniJus, Chnmicon Hirsaug., ^ psg. 129. "The word achola: is fretiuenlly used in Ihese limes in the sense given it in the text. — Du Cange. Gloasatar, sub vocu schola;. A schola or guild of Greeks in Rome in the Ninth century. — Annals Francor, ' Fuldenses, ap, an. 895. Ilochfelden, Geschichte Milellr-Archilecuir, p. 168, conjectures " ihat the craft scholar or guilds of the earlier ajres disappeared in Ihe preceding age." ■" In the Monte Cassino rolls, these apprentices are designated "pueros:" LegalosCotistantinopilim ad locandos artifices, etc., tie moii- In traversing the two centuries'prior to the Twelfth^ in all directions, these monastic artisans were appa- rently the principal skilled labor employed on the vast 1 cathedrals of Europe, Whatever the cause that cre- ated it, ere the existence of the guilds of builders had i become a general element in civil society, the schoiae of dextrous Barbati Fratres had incurred the anger of their coreligionists." Their haughty deportment, sumptuous garb, arrogated right of personal move- ment, and refusal to submit their bearded faces to the conventual barber,"' subjected them to an impassioned diatribe by a rhymer of the Eleventh century. Ac- cording to this metrical satire or lamentation they ob- tained their name from wearing immense unshorn beards — hence barbati fratres — which was bestowed ] on them by the rabble in whose eyes the hir pendage, falling to the girdle, made them resemble goats, or the tragic masks of contemporary actors. But among people of some social consequence these fratres attained to high favor, which fact it was charged J maintained them in their haughty austerity. The an- cient versifier admits so far as the canons prescribed! a tonsure they conformed only to shaving the crown. I of the head, and clipped their hair most cautiously 1 after a somewhat comely mode of their own, Enor- J isterii pueris erudiri. — Chrankon Casiense, Lib. ill., c. 27. In lo6&4 the abbot of this convent called thither famed Lambaid constructor Protinus periliEsimis arti^cibus AnuiJfitanis quam et Lombardis, op, c cap. z6 1 and Cehta Desiderii nbbat., ap. an. cit. — a miFt JmportEnt 1 attestation of the distinction of a locality enduring for ci ^'Chronicon Laureshamense, ap. an, 1090. "Concilium Avenioneiise, cap. 49. MEDIAEVAL CONVENTUAL BUILDERS. 1 9 mous, perhaps the pointed shoes worn by seculars, together with wide and flowing breeches completed the dress of these fratres.^* Wherever indeed one of the body of operatives rises into notice through the cloister records, he appears to have revealed the sensi- tive pride of his fellows, so carefully distinguished as their peculiar characteristic by the poem just cited.*® At a later period of the Middle Ages these privi- leged builders reached the culmination of their asserted claims to freedom, and in maintaining them arrayed their entire body against the authorities of both church and civil government. Before the thirteenth century, the fratres barbati were still content to show respect for the laws of monastic life, with which they were so closely blended and within whose walls they resided.*^ Oftentimes these Masons were actually domiciled in the towns adjacent to the convents, and although thus living external to cloistered walls and receiving pay or sustenance for their handiwork, rigidly insisted upon belonging to the religious houses as their chiefs and masters." Thus the conversi or barbati fratres submitted to the shadow of an authority, gradually diminishing, though still accorded. Meanwhile these ^^ Quos risus populi dedit hoc agnomine fungi Sunt quia prolixis barbis ad pectora pexis, Deformes, hirti, revera moribus hirci •Barbis hircorum similes larvis tragicorum. — Chronicon Laureshamense ap. an. 1090, Ed. Freher, Tom. i, p. 140. *^ Ascivit quendam, famosam lapicidam, Gesta Abbat. S. Trudonis, contin. iii., P. 2, § 2. *^ Von Raumer, Geschichte der Hohenstauffen. Th. vi., p. 257. *2 Ibid. 20 CRITICAL INQUIRY CONCERNING THE haughty craftsmen came into conflict with the prela-l tial functionaries on a point of governance alleged toM be an important element in conventual discipline. In I a word, the guild of constructors wanted to continue! the growth and cultivation of their beards. This v insufferable by the regulations sanctioned by the hier- 1 archy," on several grounds, the principal of which was I the sharp distinction that a clean shaved face made I between the world and professed devotees." It wa; urged against the Bearded Brothers, that this very hirsute covering for the face signalized the pomp, and J was associated with the splendid dissipations, of s lar society. Rulers of civil government and the high I placed, traced their lineage to the Merowings, whose J proud bcaripg was closely intertwined with this hairy I growth; and at the period specially noted the mostl signal act of self-sacrifice and consecration to partic lar purposes, was consummated by cutting off the I beard." 1 have thus elaborated, perhaps unnecesssr- ■ ily, this curious relation to society, both lay and ec- clesiastical, involved in the beard, in order to throw out in relief the remarkable tendencies of the barbati fratres towards the more fascinating attractions ofJ civil life throughout the Eleventh and consecutively to I the middle of the Thirteenth century. At this lastj 1, c. iG, De Rusiua Frumtnl *" Consuetuilines Clugniac. Lib. ii ;l CcDstituliones Hirsaugensei ; Lib, i, " In general, shaving the beard wos a sign of shame and ignominy.— HeinEcc. Antiq. Germ., Tom. lii.. p. 513. « Dithmir., Mcrseb. ChronLcon., Lib. vii., p. 2001 Walaf. Slral De Vila, S. Galli, c. 2, and Eginhard, Vila ICaroIi Magni, cap. i. MEDIAEVAL CONVENTUAL BUILDERS. 21 epoch, the slender threads still remaining of Monastic discipline, were more formal than authoritative. In the year 1230, William Abbott, of Premontre, attempted to enforce compliance with the rule of the Clugniac order of Monasteries, upon the bearded build- ers and ordered them to shave off their beards.** The vast sense of conscious power, the great strength of personal independence and inflexible will of these me- diaeval Freemasons may be inferred from what fol- lowed. Instead of proceeding to complete the sacrifice of their hirsute embellishment, with cringing humility and servile fear, these worthy ancestors of the modern craft deliberately refused." This refusal implies far more than the preceding moral attributes enumerated. It presupposes boundless courage to confront a power in the full swing of its dominion, rendered doubly embittered against defection from prelatial regulations, through vengeance meted out with an unstinted hand to the vanquished heresies of southern Europe. Vig- orous manhood had long since been reached by these defiant barbati constructors, as attested by the offend- ing affluence of beards, and therefore they possessed physical endurance for the singular tournament, but their diversified and widespread brotherhood supplied numbers almost equal to those of the Monks them- selves. Such answer as they returned to the venerable prelate is also characteristic of the mediaeval Masons. They said if the execution of this order were pressed ^ Le Paige, Bibliotheca Praemonstraensis Ordinis, pp. 825 ; Ed. Paris, *'Le Paige, Bibliotheca Praemonstraensis Ordinis, pp. 825, 925. 22 CRITICAL INQUIRY CONCERNING THE against them " they would fire every cloister and cathe- dral in the country ! " *® The decretal was withdrawn. Had this strange body been one of the ordinary craft guilds, it would have tasted the grinding force of church subjection by the fearful powers that daunted the spirits and agonized the flesh of recalcitrant here- tics of the age. What renders the complete immunity of these builders the more remarkable, is the singular fact that at the same epoch, in the year 1220,** and not far remote in Brunswick, twelve masters of as many guilds were publicly hung, but for what crime the contemporary records fail to disclose. An inquiry arises here as to what ordinances of a more acceptable nature these Masons, or as they are repeatedly referred to in the convent rolls, Mactiones, Maciones, Marciones*** were subjected in their earlier days of discipline. Blended with the active energy of their building talent, necessarily the Barbati Fratres,as denizens of the cloisters, manifested the essential spirit of fraternity. Of this the name itself must ever stand as an unassailable impediment to perverse induction. Within the sacred enclosures of their ateliers or work- *®Le Paige, op. cit., p. 925. *^ In eodem tempore decern Magistri Gildonum suspensi sunt, fuithoc initium multorum malorum. — Gobel. Pers. Cosmodrom, L. vi., c. 67. ^Gould's theory, History of Freemasonry, Vol., p. 109, that the word " mason " comes from " measuring," ah English term, is effec- tually disproved by the existence of the same as stated in the text so early as the Sixth century. Aurelianus Ep. of Aries Regula ad Virgines, cap. 15, and Regula ad Monachos, c. 19, A. D., 545. See Appendix. Odonis Clugniac, De Vita Comit. Aurel., Lib. ii. c. 15, a Clugny writer uses this word as of the year 850. -j- MEDIiEVAL CONVENTUAL BUILDERS. 23 shops, monastic opefatives were address'ed as "Bro- ther." Thus in the ordinance of an abbey at Sempring- ham, thie furriers and tanners of the monastery are particularized as " Brother Furriers," etc.*^ The se- quence of this quotation may be drawn to an irresisti- ble conclusion that the Barbati Fratres were also de- nominated, inside the priories and without, as Fratres Maciones, or Brother Masons. At the close of the Fourteenth century these words by common usage re- appear as " Fremaceons."*'* Later on by ignorant pro- nunciation a part of this name is made to signify a *' Free man,"^ which in a Masonic connection stand? wholly without meaning, and should be dismissed as a specimen of inexact philology corrupted into its cited form by the irrational understanding of centuries ago. As hitherto stated, while thus domesticated inside the abbeys, they were classified into scholae or guilds, which at the time were certainly not welded more closely together by other oaths than those pro- fessed in the vows of a Monk. By the blows of a hammer the fratres were congregated for work," and in the same symbol of a grasped mallet was im- bedded episcopal authority in consecrating hallowed relics.^^ On the signal, sounded by the religious ^^ Fratres Pelliparii, Statuta Ordinis de Sempringh. apud Monasticon Anglicon, Tom. ii. p. 715. ^* Rymer, Foedera, Tom. xvii., Syllab. p. 55. *' Gould, History of Free-Masonry, vol. ii. p. 407 ; and Lyon, History of Mary Lodge, pp. 79, 109. ^*Consuetud. Clugniac, Lib. i., c. 30: sed percussa tabula. The or- dinance of Lanfranc in the same age directs: Et super tabulam ab- batis ponantur tabulae cum malleolis. — Decreta Ord. Bened. J 4. *^ Annalista Saxo, sub anno, 1019. 24 CRITICAL INQUIRY CONCERNING THE functionary, in harmony with a more significant sym- bolism, the east was faced by the craft, prelim- inary to regular assignment of labor under the Decan operis.^ Similar orientation was prescribed by Mo- nastic rules in the solemn rites of burial.*' Marshal- ling the craft for actual work outside the atelier or conventual lodge, was proceeded with in silent pro- cession, only broken by the colloquial responses laid down for this service, headed by the youngest appren- tices or filiates in the schola or guild. After these came the seniors and the dean or warden often oper- tives.^ After the usual orisons were sung and prayers or adoration, they were set to work under the author- ity of the Decan operis.*' While at labor the strictest silence, precisely as though within the priory, was en- joined and maintained unless, on asking, permission to speak were granted by the dean or warden. Although absent from the monastery, its rigid discipline was still laid upon them for obedience ; and it was only after returning in the order of proceeding as at the com- mencement with prayer and short address, that license of speech was freely accorded.®" Notwithstanding the ^ Cum ventum fuerit ad locum operandi, versi omnes ad Orientem per ordinem consistunt. — Udal.Clug. Consuetudines, Lib. i., c. 30. " Ibid. Lib. iii., c. 29. ^ Udal. Clug. Consuetud., Lib. i., c. 30, and Constitut. Hirsaug, Lib. i., c. 22. ^ Du Cange, Glossator, sub. v., Decan opens, and Ekkehard, jun., De Casibus S. Galli, c. 3. ** Sequitur Kyrie Eleison cum familiaribus appendiciis Adjutorium Nostrum. Et iacto ante et retro dicunt Benedicite^ et sic datur licentia loquendi. — Coristitutiones Hirsaug. Lib. ii., c. 48. Von Raumer, Ge- schichte der Hohenstauffen, Th. vi., p. 257, notes the enforcement of this rule of silence among the operatives. MEDIiEVAL CONVENTUAL BUILDERS. 2$ panegyrist of Abbott William, of Hirsau, distinctly alleges that the celebrated prelate, in order the better to utilize the labors of the conversi in the priory and its vast dependencies, drew up what he terms " clois- tral discipline,"" for the regulation of the Brothers, I believe this ordinance to be the cited digest of the writ- ten laws, imported from their predecessors at Clugny.*' The question of great import that now confronts us, and one of as weighty value as any preceding, is who constituted the structural elements of the early and later mediaeval societies of German Steinmetzen, Tail- leur de peere, of France,** and the Tagliapetra of Italy.** Each of the three terms is applicable to the builders of the Middle Ages, and hitherto the signification thereof to mean "stone cutter"** has never been seriously disturbed. From the Italian tagliapetra a numerous family of rank and wealth originated — one indeed, in the period being traversed, of great honor** and corresponding in its higher sense to that of Freemason in modern times. Berlepsch*^ gives it as the result of his investiga- tions among the charters and traditions of the varied ** Primus instituit * * Laicorum conversorum * * * eorum claus- tralem disciplinem. — Vita Beati Wilhelmi Abbatis, cap. 23. •2 Constitutiones Hirsaugen, Lib. i., prolog. ®* Fort, The Early History and Antiquities of Freemasonry, Ap. C, p. 479. •*Mothes, Geschichte der Baukunst Venedigs, Th. i., pp. 186-7. ^ Ibid, op. cit., p. 186. •• Bluntschli, Staats und Rechts Geschichte Zurich, p. 156, and Stow, survey of London, Vol. ii., p. 215. *^Chronik der Maurer, Th. viii., p. 131. 26 CRITICAL INQUIRY CONCERNING THE trades unions, touching which his excellent series of records are professedly compiled, that the guild of Masons^ was the earliest organized. This statement is by no means free from suspicion, although if ac- cepted as a fact, it accords with the line of inquisition, I now propose to follow, viz.: that contemporaneously with the creation of cloister regulations in the Ninth century, organizing the conversi or barbati fratres, the guilds or fraternities of Masons sprung into existence. In other words the stone-cutters, as barbati fratres re- siding within the Monasteries, or as Steinmetzen, etc., domiciled without, were the same body of construc- tors, and that long after the Bearded Brother Masons had ceased to live uniformly under the conventual roof in many localities, as shown in the foregoing ' pages, they yet retained the popular nomenclature of Barbati Fratres, and were classified as monastic oper- atives. Divested of their oath-bound character, no doubt guilds were admitted not only in the towns but in early mediaeval convents, as an elemental principle of classi- fying artisans of high or low degree. So vigorous, in- deed, was the robust strength of this social form of union that the clergy appear to have not merely pa- tronized them, but joined them with such eager good fellowship as to provoke the repressive power of prela- tial interdict. A decretal in the year 528, issued *®The word "mason," I am now satisfied, is derived from the "ma- cina" or trestle used by the wall builders in high elevations, Vide An- notat. De Merced., Mag. Comae, Appendix xi., c. 2. The Glossar- ium Cavense, sub. voce " Maccinam " says it means " pontonem," as interpreted above. MEDIiEVAL CONVENTUAL BUILDERS. 2^ *' against those consecrated to the Church connecting theniselves with guildic organizations, as was admit- tedly the custom of laymen."*® Three centuries more recent, in an archiepiscopal conventicle at Rheims, an al- locution was delivered to the presbyters, directing their attention to the existence of societies or guilds, but ad- verting to them in no malevolent sense.'" Athelstane, as early as the year 928, not only recognized this social feature under Anglo-Saxon rule, as an essential ele- ment, but raised the guilds to legal privileges by means of a general statute, sanctioned by the Church authori- ties in the city of London." No doubt this legislation was in itself of sufficient importance to merit kindly remembrance by those craftsmen thus admitted to fil- iation into fraternities placed under the protection of law. Perhaps this single fact may assist in substan- tiating the Masonic lineage, ascending by tradition to " Athelstane's day." The grandeur, number and mag- nificence of the edifices wherewith this royal personage embellished the Monasteries of his realm, assumes the existence of vast troops of Masons, whose guildic union, under prelatial authority, the preceding citation plainly ^ NuUam conjuration em, nullam conventiculum, quod vel apud lai- cos non potest impunitum in Ecclesia Dei, nuUus facere tentet ex clero. — Felicis papae, Decretum, i. '0 De collectis quas Geldonias vel confratreias, vulgo vocant. — Hinc- mar, Ad Presbyter, cap. 16. "^^ Et diximus etiam omnibus illis qui in nostram gildscyram [sodali* tium] vadium dederunt, si contingat eum [/e^'e unum] mori, omnis congildo det unum panem et companagium pro anima ejus. — Leg. Ec- cles., Athelstani Regis, cap. 13, g 9. INQUIRY CONCERNING THE implies." Eight years afterwards, A. D, 936, the splendors of York are significantly noted by one of the Northern Sagas "in narrating the prowess of a Norse hero." Towards the termination of the Eleventh century, the founder of the order of Grandmonts specifically barred any of the filiates from joining or organizing these societies that so largely resembled the drinking guilds recounted with such attractive simplicity by the ancient romanciers." This ordinance enjoining the Grandmont devotees" is almost contemporaneous with the general impulse of that age to enlarge these unions into protective societies of different handicrafts, drawn more closely together by oath-bound obligations. This last element of the assemblies appears to have pro- voked stringent rescripts by the Emperor of Germany, in the year 927," Ecclesiastical permission, in its earlier stages, doubt- less fostered the propensity of Monastic inmates to unite with very ancient guilds, by means of accepted formularies of conventual brotherhood. For example, each eminent abbey maintained what was termed an "indiculus" of fraternity, in which were enrolled its "In sua tempore in lola Anglii vix unum eral monaslerium quod s, icdificiis etprrediis non dolaverit. Hennan, Comer. Chron- icon, aub anno, 9jz. ^ A jamu-Saegi : In Etxiraci splenaorem, Str. 19. " IWd, cap. 7. " Du Gauge, Glossator., Tom. i., col. :i84. "Annaliita Saxo, sub an, 927. Eigil Saga, cap. xliii. MEDIiEVAL CONVENTUAL BUILDERS, 2g members, though actual strangers to the religious body itself and affiliated with a distant Monastery." Not- withstanding the polemical utterances of a venerable controversialist who combined with his polished vehe- mence the far greater merit of martyrdom, that *' all men are brothers,"^* in its loftier morality this senti- ment was only partially understood and admitted even in the structure of the indiculus mentioned. It may be postulated as incontestable that clerical example of associating in secular scholae or guilds, although in de- fiance of synodal interdicts and enforcement of the Canons, was readily followed by the barbati fratres organizing themselves as partial elements of cognate bodies — far more likely, indeed, since these eminent craftsmen were under less restraint in their social pro- clivities than the fully consecrated confreres, for the customs of Clugny and Hirsau gave unto them entire conventual priviliges, and tolerated greater liberty of personal movement^® While, forsooth, the larger part of mediaeval society, even its martial Templars,** moved swiftly on to guildic unions as with the monks, it cannot be denied that the high independence and haughty personnel of the barbati, both by example of " Chron. Hildesham, sub. fin., cap. 4i8. ^^ Justin Martyr, Dialog., cap. 134. ^* Quae in medio saeculorum peragenda videbantur. Trithemius, Chronicon, Hirsaug, p. 229. Also, Constitutiones Hirsaug. Lib. i.,c. 78. *^In a donation to these in the year 1 152, they are designated in the deed as " Fratres Templi Solomonis," or Brothers of Solomon's Tem- ple. — R^cherches sur les Ancient Comtes de Beaumont-sur Oise, Tom. iv., pp. 92-4. 30 CRITICAL INQUIRY CONCERNING THE their monachic brethren and by the fascinating attrac- tions of intimate friendship, quickly assumed this form of combination, as yet, perhaps, divested of the mystic coalescence of an oath-bound obligation. So far as the elemental structure of these ancient guilds is known, evidently their frame-work, as seen in the mediaeval societies sworn to secrecy, emanated from clearly recognized portions of Teutonic civiliza- tion, existing vigorously contemporaneously with Gothic dominion in Italy, and shot forth from its northern home. From this source much of later craft or lodge governance has been perpetuated, and has sur- vived to modern Free-masonry. In the smooth move- ment of guildic ceremonials and symbolic allusions, doubtless, the barbati fratres imitated innumerable de- tails directly drawn from Monastic discipline. Signs of recognition pervaded the complex system of the con- vents," and were necessarily evolved from the rigid ad- herence to enforced silence.®^ Each grade of functionar- ies was specifically signaled by prescribed corporeal references;^ but the one of greater significance in its bearing upon the subject-matter of this treatise "was emblematic of constructing a wall," and was used as a token to designate the master of masons in the abbey. This sign was made by the closed hands being placed ^^ Consuetudines Clugniacenses, Lib. ii., cap. 4. ** De Signis Lo- quendi." Compare Du Cange, Gloss., sub v., signum. ®*Consuetud. Cluniac, Lib. ii., c. 3. "De Silentio," and Constitut. Hirsaug., Lib. i., c. 6. ** Further, Constitut. Hirsaug, Lib. i., cc. 6-25. MEDIiEVAL CONVENTUAL BUILDERS. 3 1 one over the other.®* The development of a system of signs whereby wandering operatives might be known to each other, in the ages under consideration, had a higher utility than the circumscribed limits of a monas- tic edifice, where it canriot be presumed the inmates readily recognized one another. Within the compara- tively peopled towns contiguous to their abodes, the adaptation of such a code by which affiliates of travel- ing guilds might be received as possessing common in- terests, would alone have rendered some system of the kind hinted at as of great value. The prerogative of wandering in quest of work, or traveling to and from distant points throughout Europe, was narrowed with exclusive vigilance to bodies whose constructive talent was summoned hither and thither as their patrons de- manded. How vast was the range of these artistic journeys may be inferred from the fact that French artificers in the 1 3th century were of such appreciated utility that they were detained as captives in Tar- tary.'' With highways and roadsides barely traversable and exposed to the depredations of unpolished rob- bers, contingents of operatives necessarily had recourse to the universal right of the guilds, and armed them- selves for probable skirmishes.®* Coin seldom satis- ^ Pro signo magistro cementariorum, pugnum super pugnum pone vicissim, quasi simules construe ntes murum. Constitut. Hirsaug, Lib. i., 3. 22. ^ Hue, Histoire du Christianisme dans Thibet, etc., Tom. i., p. 262, and Legrand D'Aussy, Histoire de la vie Privee des Francais, Tom. iii., p. 196. *• Bluntschli, Staats und Rechtsgeschichte Zurich, p. 331. 32 CRITICAL INQUIRY CONCERNING THE fied the thieving propensities of the outlaw; everything I portable down to the catmsa, which the forest free- ] hooters permitted the illustrious Lanfranc to retain," passed into their greedy clutches. The querulous lamentation of the chronicler, cited in the preceding ' pages of this treatise, reveals with clearness the splen- , dor of costume which the barbati fratres ordinarily | wore. Goods of this texture were specially tempting to highwaymen. It was a natural arrangement that a significant token of inquiry should be thrown through intei'vening space, to interrog'ate any approaching , troop, and decidedly preferable to the less innocent I message of a whistling shaft. In general, the travel- ing guilds, to prevent surprise while on these long and J fatiguing journeys, posted a regular system of guards I at nightfall,"" Ere extending examination into what elements of 1 constructive knowledge became the property of the builders' unions of the Middle Ages through the as- ' similation of the Bearded Brothers, it may not be amiss to seek the repository wherein this learning was deposited and jealously watched — tbe Lodge. In this the guild of Masons appears to have had a three-fold existence: actual labor, business properly appurtenant, 1 and, when wandering, the right of domicile. One of I the first acts to be performed at the locality where an f edifice was to rise in magnitude and resplendent J grandeur, was the erection of a Lodge, usually fabri- J cated at the expense of the patrons who summoned] 1 Abbal. S. Trudon., Lib. ii MEDIiEVAI CONVENTUAL BUILDEES. 33 the craftsmen. This usage continued uninterruptedly down to more modern times. In the year 1433. the ecclesiastical authorities of Durham, as attested by the fiscal rolls of the Cathedral, were required and sub- mitted to build and suitably appoint a lodge for the exclusive occupancy of the builders called thither to conduct certain repairs on that magnificent structure.^ Lodges were necessarily built in close proximity to the particular edifice for the work or repairs on which the operatives were engaged. In many cases these guildic halls, though doubtless of primitive design and finish at their remoter origin, maintained an uninter- rupted existence throughout great cycles of time. This curious fact is, however, easily explained. When a fabric of vast proportions was planned out for con- struction, necessity demanded that adequate lodges should be forthwith erected for permanent use of troops of builders whose life labors not unfrequently ended in the slow progress of the work. Oftentimes three or more generations of men wrought on the elegant stone details, and passed away long ere the dedicatory rites showed completion.*^ Masons' lodges around a large cathedral or monastery were so numerous that they ^ Super factura unius Logse in cimetario Dunelmensi pro dictis pe- tris operandis, ex., s. iii. d. — . Histor. Dunelhm., Scrip. Tres. Ap. p. 443- •<* Occasionally the burial place of an eminnent stone cutter was specially marked by the implements of his trade being cut into the stone set up to his memory. In crypta juxta munim monumentum ponens ad caput ejus truUam ejus et malleum ad posteritatis monumentum. — Vita Meinwercke, Ep. Paderb., cap. 17, A. D., 1009. This wander- ing — advenam — craftsman announced himself to the bishop as mason and wood-worker : ccementarium et carpenterium. — lb. 34 CRITICAL INQUIRY CONCERNING THE presented the appearance of vill^es, and gave the ] name to the curtilage or plaza surrounding the edifice, j Those that stood in close propinquity to St. Mark's, at Venice, bore the title of Corti delle Tagliapetra, or square of the stone-cutters." As late as the year 1505, many of these lodges were still in use, having had an j undiminished existence from the year 979. Their im- ] mense numbers, it seems, rendered removal a matter ' of absolute need, which was carried out by Gioi^io Spar, the provost and general, in the first years of the sixteenth century," One of the earliest official acts of Theodorick, the 1 King of the Goths, was a decree commanding respect I for the Roman code, which insured the right of per- 1 sonal law." This provided the lodges a power to gov- I ern the filiates, and a jurisdiction also over ail mat* ters germane to the interests of the craft." But a sig- nificant is here approached in this connection, in that 1 the guilds had the undisputed prerogative, according I to organic law, of uniting to themselves those crafts- men whose workmanship it was desirable to command I in the subjunctive branches of artistic culture," Inas- " Bei jedem liau wurde dann cine BauhQue etabilirt, welche bestand, so lange der Ball dauerte ; daher finden wir noch jetzt bei so viellen Palfisten eine corte del tagliapetra, daher kennen wir so wenig Archi» teclennamen bus dem Milld Alter.— Molhes, Gesch. der BaukunK Venedigs, Th. i„ p. 317. "Ibid, Th. ii,, p. 53. " Gratianus, Decretum, P. I., dist. x., c. 12. "Bluntachli, Staats und Rechta Geschichle Zuricha, p. 332. " Lanzi, Sloria Pittorica della Italia, Tom. i„ p. 29; and Berlepwli, Chronlk der Maurer. Th. viii., p. 133, Males, what is obvious, that the same plan of community was practiced by the mediaeval masons. much as the use of canvas was rare in the Middle Ages, painters accomraodated themselves with trip- tychs or wooden tablets instead. These in turn were covered with finely-dressed leather. Hence the con- junction of guilds of saddlers and wood carvers at Florence." This last trade attained high skill, and was justly celebrated for the pride of its members."' So thorough was the blending of these differing guild.s, that when towards the close of the period just alluded to they sought to sever their relations, it was only after prolonged litigation at civil law that this disunion was I accomplished." In addition to the mechanical skill I ot the Masons, the larger and more affluent abbeys I required the handicraft of other artificers. Among I these, wood carving was indispensable. Therefore the I lignatorii were often conjoined with their fellow-oper- I atives in decorating structures." As early as the sixth I century the wood carvers were domiciled in the monas- I terics.™ In harmony with the frequent unions as ad- hmti, Sloiia. delk Piciorica della Italia, "Kara uso facea in quel secoIo la [Nltura di sole lele; le tavnic ti '" adopenivam) communemeW. Ed ecco perch* esai a in qualche luogiai si Tom. L, p. 31. "Ibid, Tom. i,, p. 30. •* Ne ahramente n son ilivisi da' pitloii che a foria di liti e di giu- deta.— Ibid, Tom. L. p. xg. "Olte, Geseliichledec Baukunst, p. 52; ""d Tre« lignQnini opilices qui in artii> hujus perilitia ceteris prxstantiores. — Ison., De Miraculii. k Othm,, cap. 9. '"MonlaJembcrt, LeR Mobes d' Occident, Tom. i.,p. 175. Thelluns I at an early age seem lo have excelled in fine wood-work. Jomaades., Jothor. Rebis Geslia, cap. 34. 36 CRITICAL INQUIRY CONCERNING THE verted to on the basis of mutual profit among kindred guilds, no doubt, the elegant handling of timber for 1 embellishment in a subordinate form, had a certain I community with the elaborate handicraft of the Medi- , jeval Masons. If this explanation be unimpeachable, it provides at least a source otherwise inexplicable, from which many of the legends and ceremonies of the ancient craft passed to the Companionage as the base- born handmaid of Masonry, That intense and earnest zeal, great mental study j and rare proficiency in applied mathematics or geom- etry, are made manifest in the labors of the precursors'" of the modem craft, cannot be denied or called in question. Systematic tuition in the abbeys fumished-l the convcrsi or barbati fratres, the conventual builders, with that thorough mathematical science, which was ] of the last necessity in the erection of buildings. In a word, the Masons of the Middle Ages must have re- ceived their technical education, arithmetical or geo- metrical, originally from the priories, in order to qualify them for the successiu! manipulation of the great enterprises entrusted to them. I have previously stated that the lodges or scholje, exemplars of later guilds, bore close relations to the convents, which gave them unusual advantages for the practical acquisition of knowledge at the period under consideration, espec- ially at a time when occasional gleams of the light of '"'Some of these have received honorable distinction at Ihehttndsof their canlemporaries. Cf. Springer, Gescliichte der Baukunst des Christlichen MittUlters, p. 127, "Ingemosiis aflifcx Rodbertus Bel- lesmensls."'— Order.Vila]. Hist. Eccies.. P. 3, Lib. x.. c. 4, A. D. I MEDI^,VAL CONVENTUAL BUILDERS. 37 science were struggling upwards beyond the darkness, illumined by the advanced minds who were turning their attention among other things to the application of mathematics to the science of architecture/*' While the metropolis of the Western Empire still remained under Gothic rule, a mandate equivalent to an im- perial rescript issued in the Fifth Century to the Grand Master of public buildings in the City of Rome, direct- ing him to select for service, from the colleges domi- ciled there, the most skillful operatives. It was further enjoined upon this eminent functionary, that he should familiarize himself with the mechanical principles of Archimides, and by close study master the abstruse mathmatics of Euclid.^"' Translations of this last geome- trician^*** were in current use in the city at this era, one of which, by Boethius, was warmly commended by the royal minister.*"^ This illustrious sage, the friend of Cassiodorus, appears to have sought in the problems of an arid but estimable science, a moral theory akin to speculative philosophy.^"* In their architectural pursuits a profound acquaintanceship with mathematics ^^Berlepsch, Chronik der Maurer, Theil. viii., p. 102. ^^Si frequenter geometram legas Euclidem. Cassiodor., Variarum, Lib. vii., c. 5. ^^ Scientists of this profession at the very time were called on to measure the extent of the metropolitan walls. Photius, Bibliotheca, p. 198, ed. 1633. ^^^ Ex quibus Euclidem translatum in Romanum linguam idem vir magnificus Boetius dedit. — Cassiodor. De Discipl. Liberal. Artium, cap. 6. 106 Boetii, De Trinitate, c. 2. 38 CRITICAL INQUIRY CONCERNING THE and the calculations of arithmetical science were of the highest necessity to church builders; and from a very early date of the Middle Ages, therefore, such text books as cited were known and appreciated. In Bede's day, himself well versed in this branch of a solid educa- tion, Strabo's treatise on mathematical dimensions constituted a portion of the monastic library."" Strange to relate, that at a little later date the only version of Euclid obtainable, had been translated from the Arabic tongue into Latin by a European monk named Adel- hard.'* Practical application of the science of geom- etry as demonstrated in the writings on architecture by Vegetius and Vitruvius, was fully understood and freely made by Raban Maurus, the most poHshed scholar of the eighth century.'" Concurrent with the searching study of this science, a tendency continually reveals itself to use its abstruse problems as the basis of philosophical speculation, thus blending the visible theorems with unseen operations of the spirit, resem- bling somewhat the transfusion of theosophic Masonry into the ancient practical craft. In fact, an English Monk wrote a treatise covering exactly the ground as outlined."" Building art made its most signal strides simultan- eously with the exertions of the much-maligned Ger- " Zicgelbauer, Hi5(or. Liter. Ordin. Benedicl, Tom. I" Ziegelbauei, Histor. Liter. Ord. Benedict, Tom. i , pp. 306-8. pp. 307-8. '"'Ibid, op cit., p. 713. A Monte Cassino dean about the year i prepared a compend of Vilruvius: Vilnivium de Archilectura Mundi | abbrevinvit. — De Viris III. Casin., Cap. 47. "" Murmilh., Chronicon Continuatio, p. iSo, No. 1, ed. 1846. MEDIiEVAL CONVENTUAL BUILDERS. 39 bert, otherwise Pope Sylvester II., whose sojourn among the Spanish Arabs in the tenth century af- forded him opportunities of obtaining profound know- ledge of arithmetical calculations, and transmitting the use of Saracenic figures to the master constructors and the lodges of Europe, mainly in France, but under the weighty protection of Otho the Great, ulti- mately to Germany."^ Of his vast learning in these sciences, and of the profuse skill displayed subse- quently by his disciples, contemporaneous and unwill- ing writers triumphantly attest."' Even Adelbold avows the unapproachable mathematical erudition of this much abused prelate,"' and prays his revision of some profound problems submitted to him."* The' great worth of this eminent scientist's services at the epoch treated of, consists in both the adaptation of simpler forms of algebraic equations in calculating im- ponderable but certain forces of pressure and counter- pressure in the construction of the immense edifices of mediaeval Europe, and in rendering the conventual operatives more familiar with the advanced sciences of mechanics and geometry among the Arabs."* i^^Berlepsch, Chronik der Maurer, Th. viii., p. 102, en passant. "2 Order., Vital. Histor. Ecclesiastic, P. L, Lib. i., c. 27. "'Adelbold, De Ratione Inveniendi Crassitud. Spherae, c. i, makes this bumble appeal to Gerbert : Si erro ad viam a sagacitate vestra reducar ; si viam titubans teneo, auctoritate vestri assensus innitar. ^1* Ibid, cap. 6, vide Ziegelbauer, Hist. Lit. Ord. Bened., Tom. i., P- 235- "* Touching the MSS. of Alkindi on scientific instruments, etc., col- lected at this and later periods. See Bailly, Hist, de I'Astronomie, Tom. i., p. 647. 40 CRITICAL INQUIRY CONCERNING THE The searching erudition of William, abbot oi Hirsau, was manifested in. the combination of a piece of mechanism, which for the age, A. D. 1090, may be characterized as little short of marvellous outside the cultivated splendors of Bagdad or the frontiers of Moslem Spain. This wonderful invention was even more elaborate than a sidereal clock, because it was calculated by actual computation to show the equi- noxes and the position of the earth in its orbit move- ments."' Moreover, this abbot equalled the most proficient and accomplished arithmeticians of the time, and in the cultivation of the Quadrivium, or sterner portion of the seven liberal arts, distanced all competi- tors."' But the monastery of Clugny and its depend- encies had a further advantage over the eminent ab- bey of Hirsau and its polished chief, to whom, as hitherto stated, the earliest forms of discipline u by operative builders were transmitted by a Clugniac j monk. Early in the century Peter, then superioi Clugny, was found in Spain among Saracenic schol- ars, accompanied by a private .secretary, making a full collection of their learning for the use of his cloister."' From this, therefore, conclusions may be deduced with unfailing accuracy that tiie signal acquirements "' Vita Wilhelmi AbbalLs, c. i . This same adjuslment was recalcu- ated in tliE year 1326 by an English cieric, and presented as a gilt of great excellence to the well known conventof Saint Alban's. — Bos Uistoire des Mathimatiques, Tom. i., p. 250. "' In Qnadrivio sane omnibus pene antiquis,videbBlurpr:eeminei Vila Wilhelmi Abbalis, c, i. This specific eicellence in the s liberal arts has peculiar weight in tracing Masonic archa^logy. "8 Machunielis Saracenorum Bibliandri, p. i, et seq. MEDIiEVAL CONVENTUAL BUILDERS. 4 1 thus made by direct intercourse of the Clugniacs with the Moslem savans of Spain and the preeminent mathematical culture of William of Hirsau, enabled . each prior to provide that kind of knowledge for the army of conventual scholae or guilds of builders main- tained by them, but also afforded the enduring foun- dation for the unapproachable fame as constructors everywhere conceded to these convents throughout the Middle Ages. On this solid substratum of geo- metric and computative science, involving intense study to master it, the mediaeval lodges of Masons arose superior to contemporary craft guilds."* One art alone was wholly distinguished and apart from all others, viz: Architecture, not merely for the solemn interest blended with it, but for the display of that practical handiwork of unpliable material by skill of hand conjoined with great mental education. No significant culture of intellect was demanded of the remaining Middle-age artificers — rather, like the wood carvers, armorers, locksmiths, and jewellers, the pride of workmanship ascended no higher than trained mus- "• Freilich genosz die Kunst der Maurer und Steinmetzen mit Recht ein vorziigliches Ansehen in den Stidten des Mittelalters * * * dasz Geschlechter sich zuweilen diesem Berufe widmeten und deszhalb ihren stand nicht erniedrigten. — Bluntschli, Staats u. Rechtsgeschichte, Zurich, p. 156. The erudite historian refers to laeger, Ulm, p. 567 seq., for a striking confirmation of the statement given as above. At this time apprentices were apparently regarded as the property of lodges : " Swela huterknecht wil Meister werden." — Bluntschli, op cit., p. 156-7, n. 81. Cf. Bcrlcpsch, Chronik der Maurer, Th. viii., p. 162-3 f ^^^ Mothes, Geschichte der Bau u. Bilderkunst Venedigs, Th. i., pp. 186-7. The proposition in the text is fully warranted by contemporaneous records. 42 AL INQUIRY CONCERNING THE cles and cleverness of the eye and hand. In many respects mediaeval Masons must have been sharply distinct from subordinate guilds ; but so closely was I their existence interwoven with the organic fabric in 1 the monasteries, or at a later day brought together 1 . as previously urged for mutual profit, that doubtless much of the ritual, ceremonies and customs was drawn™ from the "honorable"'" fraternity of stone- cutters. Rarely indeed were individual plans worked out in the construction of sacred edifices, but appear to have received both the decision and the sanction of a fully assembled lodge, after careful discussion and search- ing inquiry into mathematical possibilities.'" Manu- script volumes of instruction, among other properties of ancient lodges, were kept constantly to hand for I the guidance of the members,'™ It was no doubt at ] an early period of the Middle Ages that the typical notion associated with the Solomonian Temple was understood and trasmuted into practical use by the guilds of Masons. There were certain types of archi- tecture then in vogue, as established bases of all plans canvassed and decided by the solemn guiidic conven- ticles, professedly imitated after the Jewish edifice, '"Berlepsch, op. cil., Th. viiL, p. 163. '"Ibid, p. 156. '"Die Plane nur hSchat selten von einen Einzelnen en melir in der BriiderKliafl gemeinsam benilhcn wurden.— achichte der Baukunsl Venedigs, ITi. i., pp. ai5-;. "^ Didron, Chrisliaa Iconography, vol, 1., pp. 172-B. JfEDL£VAL COXX-EXTUAL BUILDERS. 45 either in whole or in part."* That this >\*as sxitibol- ized to delineate the Universe admits of no contiw versy, because in the time of Cassiodorus, a leamcvl but blind Asiatic monk asserted this idea to the im- perial minister, who drafted a plan of it on the jxij^vs of a Latin manuscript of the Pandects.** Some centu- ries later the Venerable Bede alludes to the same drawing, and typifies it in harmony with the explana- tion of the Oriental scholaist.*** I may add here that a curious legend traversed the Middle Ages, the substance of which was that the Apos- tle James was hurled from the pinnacle of the Temple at Jerusalem, while praying for his assassins."' Tliis tradition, cited from a writer of the Ninth Century, may possibly attach itself to the recent delusive essay to trace Freemasonry to the Companionage, who equally claimed to be the sons of Jacques, and maintained their filiations with Solomon's Temple."® One of the four sons of Amyon was similarly flung over the turret of the Cologne Minster, by the Masons engaged on that "^ Fosbroke, British Monachism, p. 229. ^^ Tabemaculum templumque Domini ad instar coeli fuisM; iorma- turn; quae depicta in pandecte Latino, etc. — CassKxl. I)e In»titutionc Divinar. Literar., cap 5 ; Peter Diacon, Liber Dc lx)ci« Sancfw alw» gravely aflirms its four entrances were types of the world : ^^iintor t^>r tashabet * * * quae habent significationem quator pf^rtium mitndi. Also, that at the summer solstice the temple threw no shadow, -- Ibid, "•Cursus Patrol., Tom. xlix., p. 473; and ZiegcIlTauer, Hi»t. I/i . Ord. Bened,, Tom. it., p. 59. ^'^ Jacobus apostolus praecipitatus de T'innaculo templi.--nincmar, Epistobe. iii, "•Gould, History of Freemasonry, vol, i., p. 214. This W^u^^.ioi^ writer uses the arms of Achilles for distraction only. 44 MEDl.EVAL COXVENTUAL BUILDERS. stupendous fabric."' It is, perhaps, impossible to dis- . entangle the exact meaning of these violent and sum- mary deaths thus associated in some sinister way with high and unusual places — the Solomonian structure on the one side, and the Thirteenth Century craftsmen of Cologne on the other. The medieeval guilds of operatives, in tracing their lineage to distant progenitors, merely followed dedica- tory customs of widespread repute in very ancient J times. Of these, one at least has stood unassailed by 1 the changes of centuries. Craft chronicles both British ] and German affirm that "Walkane" was their precursor as the earliest Mason.'" This is no other than Vulcan, who hammered out the resistless thunder of Jove; but ] what is of greater value historically considered ii statement of a Patristic writer, that the Roman college i of iron workers dedicated their guild to the patronage ] of this mythical heroic artificer of remote antiquity."' In like manner the successors to the mallet and chisel I of the Holy Four Crowned Martyrs, either placed the I guildic brotherhood directly under their protection, or , claimed some important regulations to be sanctioned ' by them as patrons, who themselves carved the more ' elegant pilasters for the great edifices of their day." '"Rabelais, Opera, p. 45S, Ed. Bibliopole Jacob. This Iradition J is chronicled in the Medieval Romance of the Four Sons of AmyonJ ""Berlepsch, Chronik der Maurer. Th. viii., p. 165. '" Vulcano faber ferri consecralur. — TertuUian, Ad Nnliones, I '"Cursus Patrolog., Tom. xlix., p. 651. Not. 6byjuretus: Vetusta hisloria quator Coronntoniin; " Et coeperuni artifices ([uadratarii it dere lapidem ad colly ri urn columna:." APPENDIX. Aureliani Sancti Regula ad Monachos, A. D. 545. Caput xix.: "Provisores vero monasterii, si in habitu laico fuerint, nee ipsi permittantur introare ; pro his utilitatibus quas in hac regula statuimus, cum marcionibus (macioni- bus^) aut carpentariis, si aliquid necesse est fieri repa- rari, aut certa aliqua ratione abbati facienda, introeant." Cursus Patrolog., Tom. Ixviii., page 390. Regula ad Virgines. Caput xv.: "Provisores vero monasterii, si in habitu laico fuerint, nee ipsi permittantur introare, nisi pro his utilitatibus quas in hoc Regula statuimus, cum marcionibus (ma- cionibus ^ ) aut carpentariis, si aliquid necesse est fieri aut reparari, aut certe pro aliqua ratione abbatissae in- troeant." — Ibid, op. cit., page 401. * Du Cange, Glossatorium, Tom. ii., col. 374. (45)